The idea for this special issue of Alphaville originated at the i-Docs 2018 Symposium, held in March 2018 in Bristol, UK, where we jointly convened a discussion on the potential engagement of the interactive documentary (i-doc) form with Mikhail Bakthin’s expanded concept of polyphony. As part of this, we presented a series of provocations with a view to generating a new theoretical framework for i-docs. These provocations were inspired by all aspects of Bakthin’s polyphony, from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. Our article on interactive documentary as a research method builds on what we presented, with the rest of the issue building on the work of several key i-docs practitioners and theorists whose work relates to polyphony.
The Issue is online and available here:
http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue15.html
Judith and Stefano
Polyphonic Documentary 